An office-based mockumentary released first almost 18 years ago but still continues to be loved by people all over. The Office is a sitcom based in a very life-like office space and revolves around the everyday lives of Dunder Mifflin Paper Company employees. The show aired its pilot episode on March 24th, 2005, and continued to air until May 16th, 2013.
The show continued on for nine seasons over the span of eight years, with the same cast throughout. Actor and comedian Steve Carell lead the show as Michael Scott, regional manager of the Scranton Branch office. John Krasinski and Jenna Fischer were cast as Jim Halpert and Pam Beesly, respectively. The two started off initially as just friends but ended up getting romantically involved in the show.
Rainn Wilson played the famous character Dwight Schrute. Ellie Kemper and Mindy Kaling starred as Erin Hannon and Kelly Kapoor in the show. Apart from the main cast, the show had quite a few minor roles and a lot of guest appearances over its 201 episodes.
The American version of the show, The Office, is known to have taken inspiration from the British show with the same name, The Office. Acclaimed writer, Greg Daniels, known for writing Saturday Night Live and The Simpsons, is said to have worked with B.J. Novak, Mindy Kaling, and a few others to create the American adaptation of the show.
This hilarious sitcom is available on both Prime Video and Netflix for streaming purposes.
The Office Storyline
The first episode of the show, The Office, is very similar to its British counterpart, only that this one is based in Scranton, Pennsylvania. It starts off with a basic plot of presenting the mundane lives of the employees, just with a tinge of humor. This, over the span of eight years, gets translated into different storylines, twists, guest appearances, and sub-plots.
The show had established that Michael Scott was a new regional manager in the Office and that after the apparent suicide of an accountant, a film crew wanted to shoot a documentary to get an insight into the daily life of an office worker.
Steve Carell’s character, Michael Scott, has rightfully described himself as “friend first, entertainer second, and boss third.” He has a potential for cracking offensive jokes with his subordinates. Jim Halpert, the salesman who could not care less about his job, spends most part of his office hours flirting with the women in the Office, especially Pam Beesly, who is a receptionist and engaged.
John Krasinski’s character, Jim Halpert, has amazing chemistry with his co-worker, Dwight Schrute, who happens to be the top salesman at work and a bootlicker to Micahel Scott, his boss. Pam Beesly, by Jenna Fischer, is like any ordinary receptionist and friends with Jim Halpert, who has a one-sided crush on her. Both of them indulge in planning elaborate pranks on their co-worker, Dwight Schrute.
The first season of The Office spends enough time exploring and focusing on different characters of the show and their personality traits and establishing the relationships they have with one another. The second season sets off with Michael buying a condo and then somehow misunderstanding his relationship dynamics with his boss, Jan Levinson.
Through some miscommunication, he assumes that the two are dating each other. Another romance line starts blooming when Dwight Schrute and Angela Martin, played by Angela Kinsey, also start going out together but in secrecy.
Pam Beesley’s individual storyline continues further as she and her fiance finally decide on a date for their wedding. Jim, still in love with Pam, decides it would be best for him to move offices. The season wraps up with him finally confessing his feelings for Pam to her and the both of them sharing a kiss.
The third season focuses a lot more on Pam, and her character goes through major development. We start the show with Jim working in a different branch, just like he had decided he would. Pam, on the other hand, has called off her wedding with her fiance, Roy (David Denman), and this is not known to Jim.
To forget his feelings for Pam, Jim has picked up classic dejected boy behavior. He starts meeting and dating a co-worker from his new workplace, Karen Filippeli. The season ends with Jim and Pam accepting each other’s feelings, and by the start of the next season, the two seem to be in a happy relationship.
Where Jim and Pam are happy together, the same cannot be said about Dwight and his relationship with Angela. Under strange circumstances, he ends up killing his girlfriend’s cat, and she breaks up with him. Throughout the season, Dwight maintains his black-cloud personality brought on due to the breakup.
Michael Scott and his relationship with his boss, Jan, also comes to a tragic end, but by the final episode of this season, he finds himself inclining towards Holly Flax (Amy Ryan) from the HR Department. The fifth season of the show explores Michael Scott’s business ventures, or the lack of them. Michael quits his job as the Regional Branch Manager and starts his own paper company, Michael Scott Paper Company.
He opens his Office in the same building as his previous job. His company, fitted into a small room with Pam and Ryan, does not flourish the way he probably would have wanted it to. And after some time, his company gets bought by Dunder Mifflin, and he, along with Pam and Ryan, finds themselves back at their old jobs.
Parallel to Michael’s business failures, he is also shown struggling in being able to maintain a relationship with Holly, his new girlfriend. This leads to Michael’s second breakup in the show, though by the finale of this season, Holly realizes how much she regrets breaking up with him, and they end up getting back together.
We start season 6 with Pam’s news of her pregnancy which was explicitly hinted at the end of season 5. Dunder Mifflin is, once again, in financial trouble and may be going bankrupt. The employees are on their toes though we find that they will be safe as the company gets bought out by Sabre.
More character arcs get introduced as we see Kelly (Mindy Kaling) and Ryan (B.J. Novak) in an unstable relationship. They seem unable to decide if they want to be together or not. There is confusion on the part of Erin Hannon (Elli Kemper) and Andy Bernard (Ed Helms), as the two seem to like each other but are afraid to tell the other that.
This season comes to an end with Erin and Andy finally telling each other how they feel about the other and getting into a relationship but breaking up soon after. Season seven came with sad news for The Office fans, especially Steve Carell fans, as it was announced that this would be his last season with the show.
Part of the season was spent keeping Dunder Mifflin afloat, and some other part was spent on Erin and Andy’s relationship or the absence of it. The season also focused on setting the premise for Michael Scott to leave the Office, so that actor Steve Carell could leave it in real life.
As Michael and Holly get serious about each other, Holly gets informed that her parents need to be taken care of. So, as she decides to quit her job and focus on her parents, Michael also decides to follow her. Both of them quit work at Dunder Mifflin and shifted to Colorado. With the regional manager position vacant, season eight brings more obstacles in the way of the Scranton Branch employees.
The entire cast gets offered a new opportunity in Florida, but that gets taken away very soon too. Erin and Andy still remain struggling in their relationship. The company, once again in danger, gets saved with the help of Andy, who gets fired from his job but, due to his quick thinking, gets it back, this time as the regional manager.
The ninth season, also the Farewell Season, focuses on further establishing Jim and Pam’s relationship. Jim finds for himself what he wishes to do in the future, though it worries Pam. The show sees its end with the crew finally airing the documentary and the employees attending Dwight and Angela’s wedding. The finale also witnessed a cameo from Steve Carell and a round of final interviews with the entire cast.
The Office Review
The Office is an iconic sitcom based on strange workplace situations with hilarious cast members. The show has definitely incorporated parts from its British counterpart. But over the span of nine years, it has created very original character arcs and plots.
It is physically impossible for one to perfectly summarise the 201 episodes of the show in a way that helps a non-fan understand why this show is so loved. The sets and backgrounds, and props of the show seem very basic and mundane. Nothing takes away the attention from the characters and their quirky traits.
Nothing that happens within the office walls seems like it is unreal or unbelievable. It is all so normal that it just leaves the entire responsibility on the scriptwriters and the actors to bring life to the bland office life. There is not one character that fails to deliver what is required. With 201 episodes and episodes only as long as twenty minutes, fans can’t have enough of this show.
Steve Carell, as Michael Scott, has basically led the show for the most part, and the show has heavily depended on him for his impeccable comedic timing and delivery. What is most appreciated about the show is the absence of laughing tracks that some other shows have been known to use to make up for their poor quality of jokes.
The lack of sound adds to the awkwardness of the jokes, but it does not seem as bad as using a laughing track for every silly joke made. The show’s humor is evergreen and still valid. It doesn’t seem offensive or cringy. Some may call out Steve Carell’s character, Michael Scott, for being petty, narcissistic, and downright mean.
But when you understand that that is how his character is, you realize that it is meant to be this way. The show saw high ratings with Steve Carell in the lead, and with him gone by the end of season seven, the ratings took a dip. However, the final season was able to make up for the low ratings.
The show is shot in a way that it doesn’t look like there are multiple cameras filming. And the fact that the actual cameras pretend to be the production crew present in the Office and that actors make continuous eye contact with it helps establish a closer connection between the audience and the cast.
The show has the iconic couple, Jim and Pam, who share amazing on-screen chemistry that sometimes feels a bit too real. After leaving the show, Steve Carell mentioned in an interview how close the entire cast was and that saying goodbye to them and the show was way too difficult.
It has been ten years since the show ended, and its cult following only seems to increase. The show saw an all-time high viewership during the lockdown times in 2020. Clearly, it is a comfort show for a lot of us.
Our Verdict
For many, the show may take a few episodes to adjust to it. But in its full swing, it is a classic with clean comedy, quirky characters, and ridiculous pranks. The show also has incorporated a bit of romance and some drama, but other than that, it is a light watch with twists and cliffhangers that keep us asking for more.
The entire show, with its mockumentary setting, is as fresh and amusing as it can get. The show’s popularity reaches new highs every day, leaving people to wonder what exactly it is about it that draws so much attention from fans. Even if you are a non-fan, you still know of it. And if you have seen the memes, you’ve got to see the show.
Our Rating: ⭐ (4.3/5).
Also Read: Did Jim Cheat On Pam? The Office Affair Theories Explained
